WHAT TO DRINK

Among my top-pointed wines at the Pinot at Cloudy Bay international tasting was the winery’s “Mustang" individual vineyard pinot noir, which I pointed 93(94)/100, 9/10. It’s a fabulous, rich, brandied cherry-style pinot noir with powerful tannins. Sadly, it is produced in tiny quantities and sold only at the cellar door. The “regular" ‘09 is also pretty too. It smells so pure, so Kiwi in fact, with exuberant raspberry and red cherry fruit, with a tangy edge. Has peel and fruitcake flavours too. Maybe just a touch warm at the back but long, flavourful and spicy. 92/100, 8/10, $57.

This is fabulous and incredibly tangy and fruit-complex, with pure perfumed currant and red forest berry fruit and pips. Likewise on the palate with powerful “Central" tannins. Long, powerful and mouth-flooding. 94/100, 9/10. This is available in Australia, but will set you back $100 a bottle, as opposed to $60-70 in NZ.

(Out of/100 = empiric rating; in brackets “at best"; out of 10 = hedonic – how much I like it.)